Mitt Romney's campaign reaches out to former classmates to defend him from bullying charges: report

Mitt Romney's campaign has reached out to former high school classmates to defend him from bullying stories from his youth, but it appears they are having problems finding classmates to come to his defence.

Mitt Romney’s campaign has reached out to former high school classmates to defend him from bullying stories from his youth, but it appears they are having problems finding alumni to come to his defence.

ABC News reports that one of Romney’s closest friends from his days at an elite boarding school in Michigan during the 1960s has been approached, but the friend is “debating” whether to help out the presumed Republican presidential nominee.

Romney’s campaign took a surprising hit Thursday morning after the Washington Post reported Romney was involved in a “vicious” bullying incident against a young gay man while in high school.

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U.S. President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage on Wednesday, and the timing of the Romney story could hardly have been worse for the Republican campaign as they have been forced to play defence on a sensitive issue.

His campaign said Thursday they believe same-sex marriage could be a way for Romney to differentiate himself from Obama.

“It’s an important issue for people and it engenders strong feelings on both sides,” senior Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie told MSNBC. “I think it’s important to be respectful in how we talk about our differences, but the fact is that’s a significant difference in November.”

But instead of talking about Obama’s announcement, Romney has been talking about his behaviour as a young man, nearly 50 years ago.

Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Five classmates of Romney independently said Romney, aided by friends, cut off the long blond hair of a younger boy who cried for help while he was being held down.

The Romney camp initially called the report “exaggerated” and said the former governor did not remember the incident.

But then under questioning Romney apologized for his behaviour as a young man while still claiming he didn’t remember the hair-cutting incident.

“Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that,” Romney told Brian Kilmeade, a U.S. radio host who asked about the bullying.

“I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.”

However, he repeated he did not remember the hair-cutting incident. He also said that whatever did happen, it did not occur because of the bullied student’s sexual orientation.

“I don’t remember that incident. I certainly don’t believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual,” Romney said. “That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s so that was not the case.”

The bullied boy, John Lauber, died in 2004 but the Washington Post report was based on five independent reports from former students who remembered the incident. One called it “vicious.”

“It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,” Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor, told the Washington Post.

Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

The alleged incident occurred in 1965 at the prestigious all-boys Cranbrook School in Michigan, where Romney’s father, George Romney, was governor.

A post on the school’s website says at Cranbrook in the early 1960s “hair grows long, uniforms give way to jeans and the radical element of the student body clashes with a still conservative faculty.”

HOW FAR BACK?

Certainly, the report raises questions about how far back a candidate can be criticized for his behaviour, as the Romney campaign noted the incident occurred nearly 50 years ago.

Obama has had his past mined for criticism for the entire period in which he’s been a national figure, from the validity his birth certificate to the recent Republican attacks for being fed dog as a child growing up in Indonesia.

The report was published just as Obama announced his landmark support for same-sex marriage, setting the stage for a presidential race defined on social issues.

Romney, who is against same-sex marriage, lost his cool Wednesday when a local reporter in Denver hounded him with social policy questions.

After a series of questions on Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement, Romney finally lost it when asked about medical marijuana.

“Aren’t there — aren’t there issues of significance that you’d like to talk about?” Romney said, cutting off the CBS reporter.

Romney has run his presidential campaign with a focus on the economy, an issue he believes he can beat Obama on.

However, Romney has been greeted lukewarmly by the conservative base of the Republican party, partly because of his social policy credentials.

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